The Accidental Linguist?

Thursday, 20 October 2011

Occasionally I find myself wondering how on earth I ended up being a professional translator. With a scientific educational background such as mine, a job involving languages would appear to be well down the list of likely careers.

I did manage to pass French, German and Latin at O-level (remember those?), but studied only sciences for A-levels and ended up with a degree in environmental chemistry (after a misguided attempt at geology) from University of Edinburgh.

I was all set to take up a job with British Nuclear Fuels following graduation, but an advert in the Guardian for something called the JET Programme (teaching English in Japan) caught my eye during my final year, and I applied. I was rather surprised to be granted an interview and trudged along on a pouring wet day to the Japanese Consulate in Edinburgh, wondering why they might be interested in someone like me. To be honest, I still don't know the answer to that, but I have to assume that I did OK in the interview and showed enough enthusiasm to convince them that I would be an asset to the Japanese education system.

Looking back, there was a seminal moment in my life when I realised that languages, or at least one of them, were back on the agenda. It occurred on my first night in Tokyo, when a few of us dazed, jet-lagged and goggle-eyed adventurers headed out from our hotel in search of dinner in the sweltering heat of a July evening.

We chanced upon an inexpensive restaurant serving typical Japanese fare such as stuff with noodles in soup, stuff on rice and (mostly) stuff that I didn't recognise at all. This was one of those uniquely Japanese restaurants where all the available dishes are shown in the form of plastic models in a display cabinet outside the door and, once you've decided what to order, you press the corresponding button on a ticket vending machine and hand it to the chef. At this point, you need to bear in mind that I could read no Japanese whatsoever, and it was with some surprise that a steaming bowl of beef and onions on rice appeared in front of me, just as I was hoping. It cost about £2 and it was absolutely delicious. It was slightly on the salty side, however, so I ventured back outside, stared hard at the characters "生ビール" under a plastic model of a large glass of beer for a few seconds, put my coins in the machine and handed my ticket to the chef as before. The fact that he disappeared back into the kitchen rather than pouring a beer from the tap right next to him immediately set alarm bells ringing in my head and sure enough, another plate of beef and onions was promptly placed in front of me by the chef. I'm not sure which of us looked more puzzled. This was the seminal moment I referred to earlier. It was either learn Japanese or die of thirst – summer weather in Japan makes you very thirsty.

It may seem strange to some people that such a trivial occurrence could end up being so pivotal in a person's life and career, but I remember that evening as if it were yesterday and I still allow myself a wry smile every time I eat that particular dish, which is still one of my favourites.

The Japanese transport system also played its part in my headlong rush to start grappling with an alien tongue. I was fortunate enough to be allocated a school in the lovely city of Kobe, where the local Board of Education provided me with a flat in a pleasant suburb called 鈴蘭台. Now, those 3 characters are scary enough when you're just starting to learn the language, but my suburb in question had 4 railway stations, namely 鈴蘭台, 鈴蘭台西口, 西鈴蘭台 and 北鈴蘭台 (I have omitted the English versions of these names to give you an idea of how hard it is to decipher Japanese characters and provide a more immersive blog experience). The station where I needed to alight in order not to have a long walk home was 鈴蘭台西口, but the railway line in question branched just before my station, and I think that during my first month or so, there must have been 8-10 occasions where I stood cursing on a train which (quite correctly) insisted on going up the "wrong" branch. So, in addition to not dying of thirst, not going home to the wrong town was also a very pressing reason for learning what appeared at the time to be an utterly undecipherable script.

This all occurred a "mere" 20 years ago, but take a minute to think what we have now that we didn't then. There was no internet, no satellite navigation, almost no mobile phones, let alone smart phones, and computers were not only extremely rare outside of offices, but also primitive beyond belief, even in hi-tech Japan.

More relevantly, the English education system in Japan meant that very few Japanese people (including some of those employed as English teachers) spoke anything resembling passable English. Destination boards on trains, buses and trams were in Japanese only, electronic dictionaries and phrase books didn't exist, and international phone calls were prohibitively expensive - my main means of contact with my family back home was aerogrammes.

All of these factors combined to make learning Japanese an essential activity for me - it just made life easier, whether it was getting the train to Osaka without hours of detours, ordering an interesting looking dish from a restaurant, meeting the opposite sex, understanding what was being chanted by 50,000 people at a Hanshin Tigers baseball game or explaining to a policeman why my moped was upside down in a paddy field (actually, that last one is a situation where it is far better to feign linguistic ignorance).

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that if I were 20 years younger and heading to Japan for the first time in 2011, would I have the same impetus to learn the language? Almost all trains and buses now have bilingual destination boards, even lines in isolated rural regions. I could hold my iPhone up to a Japanese menu and see instant English translations of all the dishes, the Japanese as a nation speak better English than they did 20 years ago, especially younger people, and modern mopeds handle much better. Understanding Hanshin Tigers fans would still be a tricky one though.

All in all, I suppose I should be grateful that my time in Japan was during an era when I was almost forced to learn the language - had this not been the case, it's doubtful whether I would have had this interesting and rewarding career as a translator.

The moped mentioned above - a Yamaha Jog "Stylish Sensation"

Jelly Days - Escapism for freelancers

Monday, 21 March 2011

As almost any freelance translator can tell you, working for yourself at home can be a lonely old business even if you have your family around you. I've been my own boss for more than 5 years and am fortunate enough to work in both a language combination and a field in which the demand/supply ratio is pretty healthy. What is rather less healthy, however, is the fact that (until recently) I would shut down my computer on a Friday evening, down a restorative whisky, and realise that I hadn't set foot outside the front door since Monday morning. Quite apart from this obviously resulting in a near total lack of exercise for most of the week, I figured it was similarly damaging to my mental well being. I decided to do something about the former problem by buying a Wii-Fit, which helped me lose over half a stone and get back to a (slightly flattering) "ideal" BMI figure. I also find Twitter quite effective at banishing the isolation blues (virtual company is better than no company at all), and I now follow, and am followed by, a veritable army of similar work-from-home types spread across all parts of the globe. Feel free to trawl through my inane ramblings at @mytrans.

Having said that, 140 character snippets are no real substitute for a good natter over a cup of coffee & a cake, and in my case, salvation appeared in the form of "Jelly Days", where anything up to a couple of dozen freelancers get together and spend the day working in each other’s company. This concept, like many others, originated in the USA, but is now spreading rapidly on this side of the Atlantic. I am now one of the regulars at the Coalport Jelly, held once a month in a beautifully restored Industrial Revolution era building in the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site. The surroundings are stunning - there is a tangible sense of history all around you - and the 20 or so folk who come together every month work in fields as diverse as you could imagine. I'm the only translator (so far) at ours, but our numbers include a few IT consultants and web designers, business consultants, an events organiser, an alternative therapist, a healthcare specialist, a stained glass artist, a masque creator, a jewellery maker, an easy read information designer, a solicitor… I could go on. This naturally leads to a very rich and interesting mix of topics of conversation, and I have made some good friends since I started attending, friendships that have been further cemented in our now regular Friday night pub get-togethers.

Enterprise HQ (http://www.enterprise-hq.co.uk/), our "Jelly" host facility provides a sumptuous working environment, free Wi-Fi, unlimited tea and coffee and a lavish "brown bag" lunch that is so substantial that I have yet to finish one. The cost for this luxury? £10 for the whole day. It is, quite simply, the best tenner I spend each month.

There is the question of how productive one can be when surrounded by the inevitable distraction of good company, and I would estimate that I generally translate 60-70% of my usual volume. This is a sacrifice I'm more than happy to make, as my Jelly days go a long way towards maintaining my sanity. So much so that I'm considering spreading my wings and making it a twice-monthly occurrence, especially as this would allow me more indulgence in my main hobby - a 1700cc Yamaha that roars into life with depressing infrequency. In fact, my home county of Shropshire is so well served with Jellies that I could attend more than once a week at venues all over the county if cabin fever ever really set in.

I know of one or two other translators who are already Jelly devotees, and if you feel that a change of scenery and a day of not talking shop is what you need, then have a look at http://www.uk-jelly.org.uk/ to see where and when your nearest Jelly is held. If you happen to be in a Jelly-free zone, think about setting one up yourself. Have a look at the “Get In Touch” page for advice on how to do so. People will love you for it, and your social life can only improve. I had to miss this month's Coalport Jelly for work reasons, and I felt a genuine pang of sadness on the day, knowing that I couldn't be a part of things for once. It’s very much a part of my monthly routine now, and hope it will continue to be so for a long time to come.

The Iron Bridge - just along the road from Coalport

Too dependent on one client?

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

A few weeks ago was the ITI Japanese Network’s AGM, attended by 40 or so of my friends/colleagues/peers. We had a great day as ever, and during the evening’s shinnenkai (New Year Party), I was yakking to a highly respected and esteemed member of our group, who seemed genuinely surprised, even horrified, when I mentioned that around 50% of my income has come from a single client over the past 5 years. Are other translators similarly indebted to one company? Surely I can’t be the only translator in this position.

I generally translate between 50,000 and 70,000 words per month for the company in question, who are happy to pay me a more than acceptable rate, always pay on time (usually early), provide a great deal of feedback and generally make things as convenient as possible for me. In short, a near-perfect client. My point of view is that I would be crazy to do less work from such a client simply in order to make myself less dependent on one income source.

I am aware that if this particular source of work were to dry up at some point, I would suddenly find myself with a lot more free time, but I have an ever-growing list of potential clients that I could market myself to in such an eventuality, I do have to turn down work from other valued clients, who nearly always come back, and I can’t deny that the huge amount of work I have done for my No. 1 client has enabled me to significantly improve as a translator and increase in self-confidence.

Personally, I’m hoping for a number of reasons that the status quo continues for some time yet. If not, so be it. I hope I’d be able to cope with a period of readjustment. It could be an opportunity to reacquaint myself with past clients who’ve gone quiet, and I seem to receive a good number of enquiries from my listing in the ITI directory (a good reason to become an MITI folks).

Anyway, comments, thoughts and opinions welcome as always.

An unusual view of the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima

Freelance translator parents - lucky people

Monday, 6 December 2010

As some of you may know, we have a little boy, Tom, who will soon be 2 years old. Given that Nik, my wife, and I both work from home, I as a freelance Japanese-English translator and she as a celebration cake artist (http://www.lilypadbakery.co.uk), we've always been slightly concerned that Tom would grow up thinking that Mum just bakes cakes and Dad just plays on the computer all day. Today, however, was something of a watershed in my appreciation of how lucky we are.

Most of the time, Tom goes to nursery two mornings a week so that Nik can have some much-needed free time to bake and decorate her cakes. We've long needed to give the house a serious clean, though, as we're planning to put it on the market before the end of the year, so I took the day off and we booked Tom into nursery for the whole day (8.00am to 6.00pm).

Ordinarily, Tom plays on our bed for a good half hour in the morning before we get up, comes down to see me in my office mid-morning before Nik takes him out anywhere (which she does every single day), sometimes has lunch with me, comes down for another play in my office around 3.00 after his afternoon nap, at which point we share a rich tea biscuit, and then gives me a good 40-minute pummelling in the lounge after he's had his tea and I've finished work, and before he has his pre-bedtime bath. It's a routine I've grown extremely fond of, and one that I've come to take somewhat for granted.

Today, though, I only saw Tom for about 20 minutes this morning and then for about half an hour after he got back from nursery. That was it. No mid-morning looning around in my office and no afternoon tea and biscuits together, and I genuinely missed them. These activities have become vital for punctuating my working day. Then it occurred to me: that's all most working parents ever get to see of their toddlers, and in many cases not even that if, say, they have a long commute. This is one (more) reason I would find it incredibly hard to go back to being a company employee and have to "go to work". I don't think I could cope very well with losing this happy working environment I've grown to love. I also hope that Tom, as he continues to develop and become more aware of his surroundings, learns to appreciate how fortunate we are as a family. Any other freelancers out there with kids of a similar age? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Tom and me

Am I too specialised?

Friday, 19 November 2010

So, my first work-free weekday in around 6 months, and thus a good time to reflect on where I’m at as a translator and consider what, if anything, I need to change with regard to the work I do.

Looking at the projects I’ve completed during this busy period, it could be argued that the translation work I do is too narrow in terms of scope - at least 95% of it is patent-related, mostly chemical. Until recently, I just took this as a indication that this field has a good deal more demand than supply, and I lapped up well-paid work from long-standing clients that I respect and appreciate.

However, I now find myself rather wishing for slightly more variety in my work. I have recently done a couple of jobs in the field of food science, which I enjoyed very much. It was quite tough work, as I don’t have a great deal of background in this area, but it got me thinking that the cause of my mild malaise could be my subconscious needing a fresh challenge.

With this in mind, I’m thinking of actively seeking work in new areas, primarily those in which I already have an interest and, therefore, a degree of knowledge. In my case, this would be motorcycles, photography and malt whisky, all of which have many ties to Japan. I have some ideas of where to hawk myself in these industries, but I know I’ll find it hard to turn down the regular stream of work from my existing clients. I’ve promised my wife that I won’t work evenings or weekends (not that I want to), as time spent with her and my soon-to-be 2 year old son is by far the most precious time I have.

I guess I’ll have to make some compromises work-wise, then, but how to judge it? I dare say others may have been in the same boat at some point. If so, I’d be glad to hear from you.

Kobe Port Tower

Translating with a toddler

Monday, 19 July 2010

Ways to tell a home-based freelance translator who has a toddler:

• Your optical mouse doesn't work because there's a raisin jammed in the sensor.
• There's an odd smell in your office that you can't quite identify.
• You find 20 of your business cards in the linen basket.
• Your left-hand typing is impaired by a huge toy woolly mammoth sitting on your desk.
• You have more lullabies and nursery rhymes than "real" music on iTunes.
• You find an iPhone screen full of settings that you didn't know existed.
• Your expensive Sennheiser earphones are wet and slimy for some reason.
• Your DAB radio is tuned to a station you've never heard of.
• Your recently completed tax return is screwed up in the bin (actually, that might have been you).
• You think you have a defective monitor, but it's actually splodge of pureed pear and broccoli.
• You find the word "Jungleland" in the patent specification you translated the previous day.
• You avoid proof-reading between 8.15 and 8.45am because of the apocalyptic screaming coming from 2 floors up.
• You finish work at 5.00pm on the dot because the aroma of eggy bread from upstairs is driving you nuts.
• Sand occasionally flies in through your office window during the summer.
• The words you hear most often are "I said DON'T eat that".
• There's compost on your office chair.

The toddler in question

SEO: A necessary evil?

Monday, 24 May 2010

Sorry for the very long delay between posts. I had a mad couple of weeks, followed by an ITI workshop in York and a long weekend in the Yorkshire Dales, and then managed to pick up both a chest infection and a bladder infection that laid me low for a bit.

Anyway, the ITI workshop in York was to do with marketing myself to potential clients and, specifically, how to enhance my online presence. I’ve had a website for a while now, but knew it wasn’t actually generating much business for me. I hope I’ve now gone some way to remedying that, partly by altering the content of the site following advice from various parties and partly by changing the way in which I upload my site to my hosting company. I’ve just done a quick test, and I seem to be much higher up the Google rankings than before. So, I think I’ve moved in the right direction SEO-wise. I’ll find out in the fullness of time. I’m not expecting dozen of offers of work in my inbox tomorrow morning, but enquiries from a few new clients would be nice.

Akiyoshido (秋芳洞) Caverns

A nice week

Friday, 30 April 2010

Perhaps that’s because I’ve spent the last 2 days translating three technical articles about rechargeable batteries. The first two were fairly straightforward and dealt with how manufacturers are managing to make mobile phone batteries smaller and smaller. The third, however, is proving to be more of a challenge as it goes into a lot of detail about circuitry and the like, which is not really my field. Still, it’s true that you’ll never improve beyond a certain point as a translator unless you try new things and test yourself once in a while, so perhaps the long weekend will recharge my batteries and enable me to get stuck into it a bit better on Tuesday.

This week has been quite a pleasant one. I had no work at all until Thursday. A couple of years ago that would have stressed me out and got me worrying about the size of my client base, but not any more. It just meant I was able to spend more time with Tom, which was great. He’s sleeping and eating well at the moment, and is very good company during the day.

Charcoal grilling, Japanese style

A day off (ish)

Monday, 26 April 2010

Today was that most precious of days: a day without work. Almost. I did have to read through a patent I translated last week, but other than that, I was unburdened by translation. Days like this occur less and less often these days, so I was determined to make the most of it. As such, I am sitting here at 3.30pm having:

• Had a good e-mail clear-out.
• Tidied my desk to an acceptable extent (that is, I can now see my desk)
• Prepared my April invoices
• Edited a batch of photos from last week’s falconry day
• Assembled and filled my son’s sandpit
• Mowed the lawn
• Arranged a cottage in the Yorkshire Dales for next month.
• Put a new rear tyre on my Yamaha
• Updated my blog (obviously)

A useful day, yes? And it’s (top quality) sausages & mash tonight. I like the way this week’s started, although my May batch of patentability reports to translate will soon be here.

Tom and me at Hikone Castle (彦根城)

Back to work

Monday, 8 March 2010

So, my first day back at work after a 2-week trip to Japan. It went pretty well, mainly thanks to (a) getting back on Saturday rather than Sunday and (b) Tom shedding his jet-lag pretty quickly.

We had a fantastic trip, despite the obvious limitations of having a 1-year old in tow, Still, Tom took to Japan wonderfully well, especially the food, and was very happy to be the star of the show wherever we went.

Personally, I found it very gratifying that:

• The service industry is still alive and well in Japan. So nice after the shoddy service you generally get in the UK.
• You can eat amazingly well for very little money, even with a terrible exchange rate.
• There is simply no finer way to travel than on the Shinkansen (bullet train), and especially the Hikari Rail Star.
• I still like nothing better than soaking in a hot spring.
• 100 yen shops are amazing places, where you can buy pretty much anything.

I really must make sure it’s not 3 and a half years until my next visit. That was far too long an interval.

Koyasan (高野山) near Osaka

One year on

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

So, I’ve now been a translator and a father for exactly a year (Tom arrived Feb10th 2009). Before the big event, I was almost certain that having a young child in the house would limit my availability, and therefore income, to a certain degree, but how did it actually pan out in the end? Well, in the 12 months since Tom was born, I’ve actually earned around £3200 more than in the 12 months up to his birth, so it would seem that he’s been anything but a hindrance.

99% of the credit for this goes to Tom’s mum, Nik, who has taken him out of the house to do something on every one of the 365 days he’s been with us, come rain, snow, fog, colds, conjunctivitis, teething pains, full nappies, projectile vomits and any number of other obstacles. I’m a lucky man.

The lad

New nose please

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

When do I most appreciate being self-employed and working from home? Ironically, when I’m under the weather and feeling like cack. Today, for example, my head has hurt and my nose has run all day, but I still got a decent amount of work done. If I’d still been a company employee, the the thought of having to actually go out in the cold to get to an office, do a full day’s work, and then venture back home through the traffic would have been unpleasant indeed. As it is, I’ve had regular visits from wife and son to cheer me up, eaten a Wispa Gold and several handfuls of Bombay Mix, watched 30 minutes of Japanese TV at lunchtime, and I now feel not too bad, but am looking forward to a soak in a hot bath. Let’s hope my nose has got its act together tomorrow.

The best way to see Japan

MITI!

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Well, todays’s big news is that I am now a fully qualified member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, and can now put MITI after my name. I’m very pleased (and relieved) about this. I don’t think it will make a huge difference to my day-to-day work, as I’ve been working at pretty much full capacity for a couple of years now, but being positively evaluated by one’s peers is very reassuring. Thanks to all those who sent me tweets today. Much appreciated. I’ll get round to updating my CV, website, business card etc. when I have time.

Otherwise, a very straightforward day: 6 patentability reports and part of yet another hair dye patent translation. Only one to go now (I think).

Kamikochi (上高地) in the Japan Alps

Two down, three to go

Friday, 29 January 2010

Well, by this time next week, I should know all there is to know about hair dyes and methods of use thereof. I’ve now translated two of the five hair dye-related patents I’m working on. They should get easier, and therefore quicker, as I go on, as there’s a good deal of repetition in each file.

Despite the heavy workload, I managed to nip into Newport this morning, ostensibly to pay in a cheque, but more realistically to have a proper drive in the new car. Conclusions: comfortable, quiet, and very fast. I think I’ll be shelling out an awful lot of money on petrol, though. A steady 60mph in top gear (in economy mode) delivers around 30mpg. Yikes. Still, I bought it knowing it might be fairly thirsty.

Mt. Sakurajima (桜島) going off.

Translation Music

Thursday, 28 January 2010

Isn’t it funny how some music has no adverse effect on (or even helps) the translation process. I find that when I’m translating material with which I’m familiar, almost any type of music will do, and some actually lifts my mood and thereby improves my productivity. Ambient electronica (Air, Moby etc.) and neo-psychedelia (Dandy Warhols, UNKLE, Spiritualized etc.) fall into this category. How about others? What does it for you? iTunes seemed to be in a hard rock/heavy metal mood today, which was just no good. I had to speak to the computer sternly about its choice of genre.

So why is it, then, that I find I need almost complete silence when I’m reading what I’ve translated, which I always do the following day unless I have a very tight deadline? This can be tricky with an almost 1-year old child in the house, but a pair of noise-isolating earphones seem to deal with that. A 3-storey house with 2 storeys between my office and Tom’s nursery is definitely a plus as well.

A selection of tasty Japanese beverages

Snowed Under

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

I love it when this happens. As I was drafting an e-mail to send off my last outstanding job, I heard the ‘ping’ of a new e-mail arriving, which turned about to be an inquiry from one of my best clients for no less than 5 cosmetic patent translations to be done over the next fortnight. I did a quick tot-up in my head and worked out that, given the similarity of the 5 documents, I could manage all 5 by their respective deadlines. So, I’ve been in a particularly upbeat mood this afternoon, albeit with my nose to the grindstone. February’s probably going to be a bit manic.

Eiheiji (永平寺) Monastery

A quiet week?

Monday, 25 January 2010

Fairly run of the mill day. I finished off the detergent patent translation I started on Friday, although it took me most of the day. That means that once I’ve read through this job in the morning, I’m free of work. It won’t be long until my February batch of patentability reports arrives, so a few days off might do me good. January’s been a good month, and I’ve hit my target fairly comfortably. Having said that, it’ll be hard to say no to any new enquiries. It always is. I guess I just enjoy my job too much.

The "Rail Star" bullet train

What I do and how I feel about it

Tuesday, 19 January 2010

So, here are some thoughts on my chosen profession, in no particular order.

•I try not to forget that I’m extremely lucky to earn a very good living doing something I really enjoy in the comfort of my own home, but I do take it for granted sometimes.

•I don’t really recall being very nervous when I took the plunge and went self-employed, but I think that was because Nik was in a fairly well-paid job at the time.

•I have worked for 47 different clients since I started, many of whom come back to me regularly for work, which suggests that I must be doing something right...

•... so why then do I still sometimes feel a bit of a fraud at translators’ meetings, conferences etc? I know I’m good at what I do, but is it because I don’t have a degree in translation? Perhaps I’ll disabuse myself of this nagging doubt if my upcoming ITI assessment is successful.

•I have been extremely fortunate in terms of the people I have encountered since becoming a translator. I have never yet done any work for a bad payer or non-payer, and a few people have helped me enormously, particularly a certain company in NYC, another in Yokohama and a certain Englishman in Tokyo. You know who you are, and thanks.

•I know I’m a much better translator than interpreter, but I just don’t get much spoken Japanese practice.

•The West Midlands Group of the ITI are a fantastic bunch of people, and I’m very glad that I live in this area.

•I often (unintentionally) don’t leave the house between Monday morning and Friday evening. This is not good. Any tips on how to resolve this?

•Young Tom is now 343 days old, and has affected my work capacity far less than I thought he would. This is entirely down to Nik, who has taken him out of the house to do something every single day of his life, without exception. Huge thanks for that.

•I sometimes wonder why I’m not sick of translating patents. I’ve translated about 2 million words of them in the past 4 years, but I never find myself thinking “Oh God, not another patent”. I guess it may happen though.

•I hope never to be a company employee again.

The world’s longest suspension bridge, the Akashi Kaikyo Ohashi (明石海峡大橋), as seen from Kobe Airport

Opening blog thoughts

18th January 2010

Having seen how dedicated my wife has been in keeping up the blog on our first year as parents, I decided it was high time I penned a few lines each day about my working life. I follow (and enjoy) a few other translators’ blogs, so perhaps someone may be interested in what I get up to for a living.

I will also try to post a photo from my extensive collection on each entry.

So, I’ve been a freelance translator for a little over 4 years now. What strikes me as I look back over this period? Well, you’ll have to look at the next entry to find out.

Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine (伏見稲荷大社)